Title 17 — Title 17 WEEDS, RODENTS, AND PESTS

This section applies to appropriations made to the department of agriculture specifically for the removal or control of spartina or purple loosestrife or both plants. The legislature finds that: The presence of spartina or purple loosestrife on private lands threatens wildlife ha…

State agencies and local governments may not use any other local, state, or federal permitting requirement, regulatory authority, or legal mechanism to override the legislative intent and statutory mandates of chapter 255, Laws of 1995.[ 1995 c 255 s 8.]

Spartina removal shall include restoration to return intertidal land and other infested lands to the condition found on adjacent unaffected lands in the same tidal elevation. The department of fish and wildlife, the department of ecology, the department of agriculture, and the de…

(1) The state department of agriculture is the lead agency for the control of spartina and purple loosestrife with the advice of the state noxious weed control board.(2) Responsibilities of the lead agency include:(a) Coordination of the control program including memorandums of u…

(1) Facilitating the control of spartina and purple loosestrife is a high priority for all state agencies.(2) The department of natural resources is responsible for spartina and purple loosestrife control on state-owned aquatic lands managed by the department of natural resources…

This act is necessary for the immediate preservation of the public peace, health, or safety, or support of the state government and its existing public institutions, and shall take effect immediately [May 5, 1995].[ 1995 c 255 s 15.]

When used in this chapter, the following terms, words or phrases shall have the following meaning:(1) "District" means any mosquito control district formed pursuant to this chapter.(2) "Board" or "district board" means the board of trustees governing the district.(3) "County comm…

Any number of units of a territory within the state of Washington in Adams, Benton, Franklin, Grant, Kittitas, Walla Walla and Yakima counties or any other county may be organized as a mosquito control district under the provisions of this chapter.A petition to form a district ma…

Before a city can be included as a part of the proposed district its governing body shall have requested that the city be included by resolution, duly authenticated.The petition shall set forth and describe the boundaries of the proposed district and it shall request that it be o…

Upon receipt of a duly certified petition, the board of commissioners shall cause the text of the petition to be published once a week for at least three consecutive weeks in one or more newspapers of general circulation within the county where the petition is presented and at ea…

Such districts may also be organized upon the adoption by the county commissioners of a resolution of intention so to do, in lieu of the procedure hereinbefore provided for the presentation of petitions. In the event the county commissioners adopt a resolution of intention, such …

At the time stated in the notice of the filing of the petition or the time mentioned in the resolution of intention, the county commissioners shall consider the organization of the district and hear those appearing and all protests and objections to it. The commissioners may adjo…

If the county commissioners deem it proper to include any territory not proposed for inclusion within the proposed boundaries, they shall first cause notice of intention to do so to be mailed to each owner of land in the territory whose name appears as owner on the last completed…

Upon the hearing of the petition the county commissioners shall determine whether the public necessity or welfare of the proposed territory and of its inhabitants requires the formation of the district, and shall also determine whether the petition complies with the provisions of…

If, from the testimony given before the county commissioners, it appears to that board that the public necessity or welfare requires the formation of the district, it shall, by an order entered on its minutes, declare that to be its finding, and shall further declare and order th…

At the same election there shall be submitted to the voters residing within the district, for their approval or rejection, a proposition authorizing the mosquito control district, if formed, to levy at the earliest time permitted by law on all taxable property located within the …

Within thirty days after the filing with the secretary of state of the certified copy of the order of formation, a governing board of trustees for the district shall be appointed. The district board shall be appointed as follows:(1) If the district is situated in one county only …

The district board shall be called "The board of trustees of . . . . . . mosquito control district."Each member of the board appointed by the governing body of a city shall be an elector of the city from which he or she is appointed and a resident of that portion of the city whic…

The members of the first board in any district shall classify themselves by lot at their first meeting so that:(1) If the total membership is an even number, the terms of one-half the members will expire at the end of one year, and the terms of the remainder at the end of two yea…

The members of the first district board shall meet on the first Monday subsequent to thirty days after the filing with the secretary of state of the certificate of incorporation of the district. They shall organize by the election of one of their members as president and one as s…

The district board shall provide for the time and place of holding its regular meetings, and the manner of calling them, and shall establish rules for its proceedings.Special meetings may be called by three members, notice of which shall be given to each member at least twenty-fo…

A mosquito control district organized under this chapter may:(1) Take all necessary or proper steps for the extermination of mosquitoes.(2) Subject to the paramount control of the county or city in which they exist, abate as nuisances all stagnant pools of water and other breedin…

Any breeding place for mosquitoes which exists by reason of any use made of the land on which it is found or of any artificial change in its natural condition is a public nuisance: PROVIDED, That conditions or usage of land which are beyond the control of the landowner or are not…

A board established pursuant to RCW 17.28.110 may adopt, by resolution, a policy declaring that the control of mosquitoes within the district is the responsibility of the owner of the land from which the mosquitoes originate. To protect the public health or welfare, the board may…

(1) Whenever the board finds that the owner has not taken prompt and sufficient action to comply with regulations adopted pursuant to RCW 17.28.175 to control mosquitoes originating from the owner's land, the board shall notify the owner that a violation of this chapter exists. T…

Any person who obstructs, hinders, or interferes with the entry upon any land within the district of any officer or employee of the district in the performance of his or her duty, and any person who obstructs, interferes with, molests, or damages any work performed by the distric…

A mosquito control district may, prior to the receipt of taxes raised by levy, borrow money or issue warrants of the district in anticipation of revenue, and such warrants shall be redeemed from the first money available from such taxes.[ 1959 c 64 s 3.]

A mosquito control district shall have the power to levy additional taxes in excess of the constitutional and/or statutory limitations for any of the authorized purposes of such district, not in excess of fifty cents per thousand dollars of assessed value per year when authorized…

For the purpose of property taxation and the levying of property taxes the boundaries of the mosquito control district shall be the established official boundary of such district existing on the first day of September of the year in which the levy is made, and no such levy shall …

It is hereby declared that whenever the public necessity or welfare has required the formation of a mosquito control district, the abatement or extermination of mosquitoes within the district is of direct, economic benefit to the land located within such district and is necessary…

The board of trustees shall annually determine the amount of money necessary to carry on the operations of the district and shall classify the property therein in proportion to the benefits to be derived from the operations of the district and in accordance with such classificati…

The board of trustees in assessing the property within the district and the rights, duties and liabilities of property owners therein shall be governed, insofar as is consistent with this chapter, by the provisions for county road improvement districts as set forth in RCW 36.88.0…

The provisions of chapters 84.56 and 84.64 RCW and RCW 36.29.180 governing liens, collection, payment of assessments, delinquent assessments, interest and penalties, lien foreclosure and foreclosed property shall govern such matters as applied to mosquito control districts.[ 2020…

The county treasurer shall collect all mosquito control district assessments, and the duties and responsibilities herein imposed upon him or her shall be among the duties and responsibilities of his or her office for which his or her bond is given as county treasurer. The collect…

A mosquito control district shall have the power to issue general obligation bonds and to pledge the full faith and credit of the district to the payment thereof, for authorized capital purposes of the mosquito control district, and to provide for the retirement thereof by excess…

All taxes levied under this chapter shall be computed and entered on the county assessment roll and collected at the same time and in the same manner as other county taxes. When collected, the taxes shall be paid into the county treasury for the use of the district.If the distric…

The funds shall only be withdrawn from the county treasury depository upon the warrant of the district board signed by its president or acting president, and countersigned by its secretary.[ 1957 c 153 s 28.]

Any part or all of the taxes collected for use of the district may be used for matching funds made available to the district by county, state, or federal governmental agencies.[ 1957 c 153 s 29.]

All expenses of any special election conducted pursuant to the provisions of this chapter shall be paid by the mosquito control district.[ 1957 c 153 s 30.]

It shall be the duty of the assessor of each county lying wholly or partially within the district to certify annually to the board the aggregate assessed valuation of all taxable property in his or her county situated in any mosquito control district as the same appears from the …

Any territory contiguous to a district may be annexed to the district.If the territory to be annexed is in a city, consent to the annexation shall first be obtained from the governing body of the city. An authenticated copy of the resolution or order of that body consenting to th…

The district board, upon receiving a written petition for annexation containing a description of the territory sought to be annexed, signed by registered voters in said territory equal in number to at least ten percent of the number of votes cast in the territory for the office o…

If upon the hearing the district board finds that the petition and the proceedings thereon meet the requirements of this chapter and that it is desirable and to the interests of the district and of the territory proposed to be annexed that the territory, with boundaries as fixed …

The order of annexation shall be entered in the minutes of the board and certified copies shall be filed with the secretary of state and with the county clerk and county auditor of each county in which the district or any part of it is situated.From and after the date of the fili…

Whenever in the judgment of the district board it is for the best interests of the district that it be consolidated with one or more other districts, it may, by a two-thirds vote of its members, adopt a resolution reciting that fact and declaring the advisability of such consolid…

Should it appear that two-thirds of the members of each of the boards of districts proposed to be consolidated favor consolidation each of said boards shall then, by a vote of not less than two-thirds of its members adopt a concurrent resolution in favor of consolidation, declari…

When the concurrent resolution for consolidation has been adopted, each board of the districts proposed for consolidation shall forthwith call a special election in its district in which shall be presented to the electors of the districts the question whether the consolidation sh…

Should not less than two-thirds of the votes of each of the respective districts proposed to be consolidated favor consolidation the county commissioners shall immediately:(1) Enter an order on its minutes consolidating all of the districts proposed for consolidation into one dis…

After the consolidation, the board of the consolidated district shall consist of the number and shall be appointed in the manner prescribed by this chapter for a district originally formed.The terms of the members of the district boards of the several districts consolidated who a…

The consolidated district has all the rights, powers, duties, privileges and obligations of a district formed originally under the provisions of this chapter.If at the time of consolidation there is outstanding an indebtedness of any of the former districts included in the consol…